Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1887-06-10

were not shot. ny, l never! LOOK! your
boot is full of blood! SO you were hit after
ALL"
"Might trouble you to give me some
brandy. Mrs Neville" said john, family.
She filled glass she had brought with her
half full of water from n little irrigation
furrow that ran down from the main SLUT by
the road and then topped it up with brandy.
He drank it, and felt decidedly better.
"Dear mel" said Mrs. Neville, "thcre are a
pair of you now You should just have seen
that girl go down when she saw the body
coming along the roadl | made sure that it
was you; but it wasn't They say that it
was poor Jim Smith, son of old Smith of
Rustenburg. | tell you what it is, Capt.
Mel, you had better be careful; if that girl
isn't in love with you, she is something very
like it. A girl does not pop over like that for
Dick, Tom or Harry. You must forgive an
old woman like me for speaking out plain, but
she is an odd girl is jess, just like ten women
rolled into one so far as her mind goes, and if
YOU don't take care you will get into trouble,
which will be rather awkward, as you are
going to marry her sister. jess isn't n girl to
have bit of tlirt to pass away the time and
have done with it, | can tell YOU" and she
shook her head solemnly, as though she sus-
pected him of trihing with his future sister
in laws young affections, and then, without
waiting for an answer, turned and went into
the cottage.
As for John, he only groaned. What could
he do but groan? The whole thing was self
evident, and if ever a man felt ashamed of
himself that man was John Mel. He was a
strictly honorable individual, and it cut him
to the heart to think that he had entered
on course which was not honorable,
considering his engagement to Bessie
When he, a few minutes before, had
told jess he loved her he had said a
disgraceful thing, however true thing it
might be. And that was the worst of it; it
was true; he did love her. He felt it come
sweeping over him like wave as she stood
there looking at him in the room, utterly
drowning and overpowering his affection for
Bessie, to whom he was bound by every tie Of
| honor. 1t was a new and wonderful thing,
this passion that had arisen within him, as
strong man armed, and driven every other
affection away into the waste places of his
mind; and, unfortunately, it was an overmas-
tering and, as he already guessed, an endur-
ing thing He cursed himself in his shame
| Il Il anger as he sat there recovering his equi-
,,brium on the broken chair and tying
| handkerchief tight round his wound. What
l fool he had beenl Why had he not waited
20 see which of the two he really took too
| Why had jess gone away like that and
| brown him into temptation with her pretty
sister! He was sure now that she had cared
| Tor him all along. Well. there it was and
| precious bad business too. One thing he was
clear about; it should 80 no further. lie was
not going to break his engagement to Bessie;
| it was not to be thought Of But all the
| same, he felt sorry for himself and sorry for
jess too.
Just then, however, the bandage on his leg
slipped, and the wound began to bleed SO fast
| that he was fain to limp into the house for as
siStance.
Jess, who had apparently quite got over
her agitation, was standing by the table talk
ing to Mrs. Neville, who was perSuadng her
to swallow some of the brandy she had been
at such pains to fetch. The moment she
caught sight of Johns face, which had now
turned CHASTITY white, and saw the red line
trcliling down his boot, she took up her hat
that was lying on the table.
You had better lie down on the old bed
stead in the little ROOM" She said; Il AN
going for the doctor"
Assisted by Mrs. Neville, he was only too
glad to take this advice, but long before the
doctor arrived John had followed jess
example and, to the intense alarm of Mrs,
Neville who was vainly endeavoring to
check the flow Of blood, which had now be-
come copious, gone Off into a dead faint. On
the arrival of the doctor it appeared that the
! bullet had graZed the walls OF one of the
arteries on TIE inside Of the thigh without
actually cutting them but that they had now
given way, which rendered it necessary to
the the artery. This operation, with the
assistance of chloroform, he proceeded to
successfully carry out on the spot, announc-
ing afterward that great deal of blood had
already been lost
When at last it was over, Mrs Neville
asked about John being moved up to the
hospital, but the doctor declared that he
must stop where he was. and that jess must
stop and help to nurse him, with the assist
ance of a soldiers wife he would send down.
Dear me-" said Mrs. Neville, that is very
awkward"
at will be awliwarder if you try to move
him at present." was the grim reply, "for the
silk may slip, in which case the artery will
probably break out again, and he will bleed
to DEATH
AS for jess, she said nothing, but set to
work to make preparations for her task of
nursing. As fate had once more thrown
them together, she accepted the position
! gladly, though it is only fair TO say that she
would not have sought II.
In about an hours time, just as John was
beginning to recover from the painful effects
of the chloroform, the soldiers wife who was
to assist her in nursing arrived. She was as
jess soon discovered, not only low stamp of
woman, but both careless and ignorant into
the bargain, and all that she could be relied
on to do was to carry out some of the rougher
work Of tine sick room. When John woke uu
and discovered whose was the presence that
was bending over him and whose the cool
hand that lay upon his forehead he groaned
again and went to sleep, But Jess did not 60
to sleep She sat by him there throughout
the night, until at last the cold lights of the
dawn came cleaning through the window
and fell upon the white face of the man she
loved. He was still sleeping sondly, and, as
the night was exceedingly hot and oppressive
she had left nothing but a sheet over him
Before she went to rest little herself she
| turned to look at him once more, and as SHE